The top-seeded Stosur failed to make an impression against the seventh-seeded Czech, who triumphed 6-3, 6-2 and will play Garbine Muguruza in the final after she beat Estrella Cabeza Candela 6-0, 6-1 in the other semi-final.

Stosur, who is seeded 17th for the Australian Open, will meet Zakopalova again in the first round at Melbourne Park next week.

The Australian can now boast only a 3-2 record over veteran Zakopalova, who is ranked 37th in the world.

Even if Stosur can get past the 31-year-old at Melbourne Park, she could then face tough matches against Sydney International finalist Tsvetana Pironkova and former world number one Ana Ivanovic.

In a rocky start to her season, which began with a winless Hopman Cup campaign, Stosur has three wins from seven matches.

There was a bizarre start to Stosur's first semi-final on home soil since 2005, the world number 17 needing a medical time-out after the warm-up when she suffered a bleeding nose.

The 29-year-old laughed as she had her blood pressure taken by the tournament doctor, eventually taking the court after a delay of around 10 minutes.

Stosur lost her opening service game but broke back immediately.

Zakopalova broke again in the sixth to lead 4-2 and then saved seven break points in the next game, as the 2011 US Open champion attacked.

Surviving that onslaught, the Czech served out the set.

Stosur found herself down an early break again in the second but broke back for 2-2.

She meekly lost her next service game to love and was broken again for 5-2 before Zakopalova served out the match.